This year’s Design Discovery Awards, sponsored by Bombay Sapphire showcased the latest from emerging designers, with products ranging from Flintstone-like nutcrackers to plastic forks and kissing lamps.

The awards night was, as one might expect, a very ‘Bombay Sapphire’ event – the brand of gin being well represented. Countless ‘make-your-own’ cocktails and a large chandelier of cloth and blue-glass bottles threatened to overshadow the designs themselves.

However, when Edra Creative Director Massimo Morozzi gave his speech, the night returned to the idea of good design and impressive designers. He presented the awards along with the Brazillian brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana.

This year the prize-pool exceeded $40,000. First prize was a dead-heat with Trent Jansen’s ‘Kissing Pendants’ [pictured above] and  Ilias Fotopoulos’ ‘On Closer Inspection’ tactile and Braille wallpaper, sharing first-prize. Runners-up included Christina Waterson’s ‘Plexa#1’, Matthew Conway’s ‘2Lives Light’ and Henry Wilson’s ‘Bedrock-Float’.

"I am so ecstatic about my achievement in the award. Just such a great experience being a part of it, meeting the other designers and working with good people," runner-up Christina Waterson says.

Winners – Trent Jansen and Ilias Fotopoulos

Finalists – Henry Wilson, Stuart McFarlane and Christina Waterson

Short-listed finalists – John Hoogendoorn, Bridget Bodenham, Matthew Conway Oliver Smith and John Quan

The Design Discovery exhibition will be on display at Object Gallery in Sydney until 2 November 2008.

object.com.au